Alpha (& Daryl Dixon)
by Abbiemination
Summary: When the group meets a girl in Atlanta accompanied by an entire pack of dogs, they bring her back to the camp. They know nothing about her except she can survive. But Daryl can see she's hiding something. Something she's willing to die for to keep a secret. She knows if they find out what she's done in the past, they would abandon her, or worse. Please read :P


**Daryl's POV**

"Son of a bitch. That's _my_ deer! Look at it. All gnawed on by this... Filthy, disease-bearing, motherless poxy bastard!" I kicked at the dead carcass of a walker, spitting anger-fueled words in it's direction. I had been tracking that deer for miles, and this walker had just gone and eaten it's goddamn neck out!

A cluster of the men from the group were surrounding the dead body, wielding weapons that were obviously responsible for cutting the walker's head off.

"Calm down, son. That's not helping." Dale said, living up to his irritatingly calm and reasoning demeanor.

"What do you know about it old man? Why don't you take that stupid hat and go back to 'On Golden Pond'?" I said, getting up in his face. I backed up and sighed, "I've been tracking this deer for miles."

I knelt down and ripped out the arrows sticking out of the deer's butt.

"Gonna drag it back to camp, cook us up some venison. What do you think? Do you think we can cut around this chewed up part right here?" I gestured to the gaping, bloody hole on the doe's long neck.

"I would not risk that." Shane said, curling his lip in disgust.

"That's a damn shame...I got some squirrel, about a dozen or so, that'll have to do." I tucked my arrows into my pocket and looked around at the camp we had made. Suddenly, the head of the walker started snapping it's jaws. Amy gagged and backed away in horror.

"Oh god.." She said as she was pulled away by her sister, Andrea. Lori dragged Carl away too, and was closely followed my Carol and her daughter and Morales' wife and kids. They would need to tough up if they expected to survive in the new world.

"Come on people, what the hell?" I strung my crossbow and shot it in the brain and tugged the arrow back out. "It's gotta be the brain, don't y'all know nothin'?" I stormed away from the useless idiots and walked into camp.

"Merle! Merle!? Get ya ugly ass out here! Got us some some squirrel, let's stew 'em up."

No one answered.

 **Alpha's POV**

As I sat getting comfortable by the fire, sharpening a stick just out of boredom, I heard angry shouting on the other side of the RV. I stood up, brushing the flakes of wood and peered around the big metal vehicle. A man was shouting in Rick's face, spitting angry words at him and flinging squirrels about. I smiled slightly, I had been told about this man. Daryl Dixon. Merle's brother. And I could guess what he was so pissed at him about. Rich _had_ handcuffed his brother to a roof just a day ago.

I had met up with Glenn in Atlanta, where he was trying to help Rick escape a situation in a tank with walkers surrounding it. Together we helped him out and Glenn brought him and I back to the group who had cone into the city for supplies. After the whole Merle incident we went to the quarry and I was introduced to everyone. Rick was reunited with his family, which was pretty awesome. Initially, I wasn't sure I was going to fit in, but after they offered me food a tent to sleep in (I declined, I preferred to sleep in a hammock in the trees) and chatted with me, I was almost certain they didn't mind having an outsider in the group.

The only person I hadn't met yet was Carol, who her daughter had told me all about. She was shy at first, but after an hour so she realized I wasn't dangerous and she spoke to me for ages, I barely even said anything. I preferred it that way. With silence comes secrets. And with secrets comes power.

Anyway, back to Daryl. He was currently talking to Rick and Shane, negotiating whether or not to go back for Merle or not. Obviously Daryl wanted to go, but Shane was uneasy and didn't want to lose any more people. I rolled my eyes at him, still partially hidden behind the RV, I really did not like this man. Who the hell sleeps with someone's wife just because they think he's dead? Have some respect for fuck's sake! Right?

As I watched them decide that Rick, Daryl, Glenn and T-Dog would go back into the city the next day. Daryl was hesitant to wait, but he agreed after some persuasion. As he began to walk away from the other people, he glanced to the side and caught my gaze. His shiny blue eyes took my full figure and glared.

"Who the fuck is this?"

 **Daryl's POV**

I stared at the woman who was standing next to the RV, which was acting as a partition for the tents and fire. She herself looked like she was the human embodiment of flames. Her hair was as red as hot lava, flowing in wild curls down to her hips, where jean shorts clung to her lean legs. My eyes traveled up her torso, which, annoyingly, was covered by a distractingly tight navy tank top, which was splattered with red blood and other mysterious stains. Her lips were a rosy red, full but not big, her nose cute and small. And there, surrounded by a sea of adorable freckles and framed by long black lashes, sat the heart of the fire. Her eyes. They burned a dazzling blue, the iris' rimmed with such a dark black it made them stand out even more. They always said eyes were the windows to the soul, but all I could see was a cold, stony wall built to cut off any unwanted probing of who she was. She stood with her arms folded protectively over her chest, her jaw clenched and her back straight, but to top off this tough exterior she had a silvery scar running through her left eye, starting from mid-forehead and ending just below her cheekbones. Somehow, it made her even more beautiful.

I mentally gave myself a halting slap. I could not be having these ludicrous feelings. I kicked the fluttering heart out of my chest and replaced it with a steady one. I ripped my eyes from her hard stare, and focused them instead on the thirteen dogs waiting at her feet. Each one was bigger than any other dog I had ever seen, with piercing blue eyes and warm, fluffy fur coats. Their fur was matted with blood and guts so that the colour was totally indistinguishable. Maybe it stopped them from getting sniffed out by walkers.

"Who the fuck is this?" I snapped, my question directed to anyone who was listening.

"Oh...this must be Alpha." Carol stopped next to me to join me in looking at the girl.

"You haven't met her?"

"Everyone else has...I haven't gotten round to it..."

 **Alpha's POV**

As Carol spoke my heart seemed to stop and my blood froze in my veins. I drew in a quick, sharp breath and then, as quickly as it had stopped, my heart started up again and my blood boiled.

"She has met me, _actually._ I was four, do you recall me at all, Carol?" I spat, my voice laced with thick, acidic venom. She narrowed her blue eyes for just a moment. I could see the gears turning in her brain, and then suddenly they stopped. Recognition clicked in her haze and she blinked in disbelief.

"El-"

"That isn't my name. It hasn't been my name since you abandoned me with that prick I wouldn't dare to call a father"

"I was so young..."

"Four is _young_ , Carol. Seventeen is not _young._ I know plenty of girls who were seventeen and kept their accidental babies."

"How do you even know who I am?" She asked, her voice barely a whisper.

" _Dad_ had photographs of you. He used to let me look at them. I used to think he was being nice, but now I'm not that stupid. He wanted me to feel the pain he felt when you left. He wanted me to cry and sob and weep at your distant memory. Guess what, Carol? I didn't. I burned those stupid photographs and dealt with the stupid consequences, because I realized I hated you enough to feel more than just emotional pain." It wasn't until I had dropped my hand I realized I had traced the scar disfiguring my face, and silently hit myself for having such an idiotic subconscious. Daryl had caught my quick movement, and was now staring at my forehead again. Did no one ever tell him not to stare? Because he couldn't seem to help something.

"Look, El- Alpha - I'm sorry. There isn't one day of my life I haven't thought about you and regretted what I did. It was too late to go back, I already had another life. Another family." As she spoke, I remembered Sophia. My sister. My little sister. The one good thing that came out of this.

"Sorry? Tell that to the little girl who cried every night for years! The one who begged to be taken back to her mommy! The one who knew she was so useless, her own mother didn't want her! Apologize to her. Not me. I'm not your daughter. I don't care. Not about you, or how much you regret ruining my life, or what excuses you have to say! I just don't care!" I burst. Daryl stared with wide eyes, shifting awkwardly on his feet. That was, until I lunged for Carol, and he had to move in order to stop me.

My fingers barely brushed the skin of her neck before Daryl trapped me between his arms, pulling me away. I had always been able to fight, but he was stronger than me.

"Calm down, spitfire. Ain't no need for violence."

"Pfft, you can talk, squirrels." I retorted, anger still hot on my breath. "Now let go!" He did, but not until my breathing had returned to normal and a small crowd had gathered. Carol had backed away, tears fresh on her freckled cheeks. Sophia clutched her mom's hand in fear. Her eyes were wide and nervous. Something in my heart flipped. I unclenched my fists, degritted my teeth and took a few deep breaths.

"I...have to go..." I stumbled away, a little disorientated. I whistled for the dogs and they followed me into the woods. I stopped as I neared the tree line and turned around. I singled out the two blue eyes I was looking for in the crowds and glared.

"Don't ever, _ever_ , touch me again. Got that, squirrels?" I spun back around and stomped into the cover of the trees.


End file.
